1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to L-argininal derivatives, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
It has already been ascertained by Umezawa, Aoyagi et al. that peptide derivatives containing aminoaldehydes (argininals) produced from certain kinds of actinomyces have a strong inhibitory activity on certain kinds of proteases, such as serine and thiol proteases. See, for example, H. Umezawa: The Journal of Antibiotics, 22, 1969, p. 283; or H. Umezawa: Enzyme Inhibitors of Microbial Origin, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, 1972, pp. 15-29.
Proteases in a living body not participate in blood coagulation, fibrinolysis or kinin release, but also act sometimes as inflammatory substances, and they play an inportant role on complement fixation, cell fusion, carcinogenesis, immunity, and various other phenomena. The inhibitors of the proteases, which are closely concerned in the various phenomena of life, are considered to have a lot of physiological actions, and are expected as useful medicines. In fact, it is known that leupeptin (acetyl or propionyl-L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-argininal), which is a peptide containing argininal, has an antiinflammatory activity, and a pharmacological action on the fibrinolytic system. This compound has a potential therapeutic capability in muscular dystrophy, since it has recently been found that leupeptin inhibits the atrophy of the muscles in chickens with spontaneous muscular dystrophy [P. Libby and A. G. Stracher and E. B. MacGowan, Science, 200, p. 50 (1978)].